It's summertime again – at least in South India! I'm just back from
a trip to Tamil Nadu, and as usual, I was traveling barefoot – with
no footwear in my backpack. Summertime in India means: Temperatures
have crossed the 35 C° mark and the pavement gets REALLY hot, at
least between 12 noon and 3 pm. No wonder that the sight of a
ferengi (foreigner) walking barefoot on a tarred road caused a
considerable amount of curiosity among the locals: I don't know how
often I heard the same question – "You're walking barefoot? Isn't it
too hot?" My answer remained the same: "Not at all, I'm used to it"
I said, giving the curious shopkeeper, innkeeper or street hawker a
big smile. Don't get fooled: People are wondering how a FOREIGNER
can bear the heat, but that doesn't mean I'm the only one roaming
around on bare soles! Not at all: It has been long since I've seen
SO many people walking barefoot - happily and carefree! At the bus
stand or railway station, in the market or in the fields, in the
village or in town… People of all ages, men, woman and children,
villagers and sadhus as well as college kids and well-dressed
businessmen… Their dark feet are dusty but healthy. They walk with
self confidence, and the characteristic widened gap between the big
and the index toe shows me why: They're USED TO a life on bare
soles! Walking barefoot in the heat – it's normal for them! No harm…
Well, same with me! J My strong bare feet are evenly tanned,
the "gap" is there too… And my soles are tough, REALLY TOUGH! The
constant exposure to hot tarmac, gravel and sharp rocks only adds
additional layers of protective leather – one after the other.
Walking barefoot in the heat of the summer – it's NO PROBLEM for me,
I'm feeling totally comfortable! Which shows: Our feet are MEANT TO
BE BARE, and as soon as we free them from their prisons (shoes) they
start to adapt to our new, barefoot lifestyle, regaining their
natural strength and toughness! An article somewhere out there in
the WWW puts it this way:
"As much of that early walking was probably done barefoot. No one
knows when the first shoes, probably sandals, were invented. But if
you go outside barefoot a lot, you may notice that the bottoms of
your feet get tough (and dirty) and you can walk almost anywhere
without hurting them. People who walk barefoot all the time - and
about a billion of them live on the planet today - develop a thick
layer of keratin on the soles of their feet. This is the same
material that hair, horns, and claws are made of. With their
toughened soles, they can walk over rocks, thorns, and even hot
coals (though not many people try this)."
(http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4128/is_200502/ai_n95208
30)
For more information on the joys of living barefoot, visit the
extensive Link-section of my Yahoo Group "The Barefoot Traveller's
Tepee" with more than 130 links (growing!) about all aspects of a
life without shoes:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/barefoottravelling/links